Males generally gather fat around the waist, which is why we get guts and can still have limbs that look like twigs. Just look at some old timers who are long term boozers - nice beer belly, skinny arms and legs. Half of the native population of Florida

I think that is pretty normal and the way around it is to gain some muscle mass in your upper and lower body.

Quote:

Originally Posted by I_Dunno

Can't edit the question, but there were some typos.
Question was about the "muffin top" or "apple body fat distribution" which is associated with high levels of Cortisol and/or Estrogen.

I was wondering if anyone took supplements or got a doc to prescribe aromatase inhibitors. Exercising and losing fat didn't make much of a difference, gaining it back still all went to the same place. For me, when clothes covers my belly and I am at 17% BF I look like an anorexic twig. Trying to see if anyone else had this issue and managed it successfully. If the fat distribution can be attributed to the high levels of cortisol and Estrogen, it is worth looking into, regardless of body composition.
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I have been looking into things like ashwaganda, DHEA (this raises estrogen though) and i3c. Although i3c and Dim aren't that convincing. Of course, all the supplements probably wouldn't do anything unless you lose the fat. I even took ashwaganda and i3c while the fat accumulation process took place, so who knows if that works

What if I'm tall and have long legs too? Should I try to remove my extra X chromosome using some radical technology like Crispr cas-9 or whatever the kids are raving about these days (me being the kid...)?

Can't edit the question, but there were some typos.
Question was about the "muffin top" or "apple body fat distribution" which is associated with high levels of Cortisol and/or Estrogen.

I was wondering if anyone took supplements or got a doc to prescribe aromatase inhibitors. Exercising and losing fat didn't make much of a difference, gaining it back still all went to the same place. For me, when clothes covers my belly and I am at 17% BF I look like an anorexic twig. Trying to see if anyone else had this issue and managed it successfully. If the fat distribution can be attributed to the high levels of cortisol and Estrogen, it is worth looking into, regardless of body composition.
.

I have been looking into things like ashwaganda, DHEA (this raises estrogen though) and i3c. Although i3c and Dim aren't that convincing. Of course, all the supplements probably wouldn't do anything unless you lose the fat. I even took ashwaganda and i3c while the fat accumulation process took place, so who knows if that works

What sucks is that dieting would also increase cortisol levels.

How would you know if it is genetics? Have you gotten genetic testing done?

As far as I know, there is very little about what SNPs would cause fat storage in that fashion. As Lyle pointed out, hormones are going to play the biggest role in that.

If you are looking for chemical solutions, there isn't going to be anything easy and legal. Just increasing test levels will likely worsen the problem of storing more VAT.
Solution? Lose the fat and don't gain it back? I would recommend putting on some muscle when you gain weight rather than gaining all the fat back. Lyle has several articles about how to build muscle and bulk responsibly without becoming overwhelmingly fat.Read this article. If you followed that plan for a couple years (and actually stuck to it, which is where most people fail) you would likely not be having this issue.